Hello, Third Trimester

So here I am at Week 28. My weight gain has calmed down (1 lb. last week rather than 3, with no conscious change in eating or activity), my belly is substantial, the baby kicks, punches, and wiggles around regularly, and I feel great. I'm not uncomfortably large yet or experiencing any of the more unpleasant symptoms associated with the end of pregnancy (although I have noticed that I tend to feel 10 degrees warmer than anyone else- living in Texas for five weeks should be all kinds of fun this summer). Our apartment is literally covered in baby stuff. The reason we're moving in June is because there is no room in our cute little loft for anything more than what is in there now, so the crib, carseat, carseat base, carseat stroller, cushy umbrella stroller, and seventeen baby shower gifts are all piled in the middle of our living room. Lilly thinks it's a big jungle gym of fun, but the clutter is driving me nuts. We have access to our new place this weekend and are going to move a lot of it then.

Everything continues to go well with being a pregnant law student. I haven't actually told many professors about my pregnancy, but it's pretty obvious now anyway. I also never officially talked to the administration. I think they'd be positive about it, but I had no idea how to initiate the conversation. I'm doing fine, I don't need anything, so what am I talking to them for? A benefit of going to such a small school is that the administrative deans are pretty responsive to individual needs- I'm certain if there had ever been a problem they would have accommodated me. (That's also the reason I never talked to most of my professors throughout the year- I was able to attend and stay awake in my classes and I wasn't expecting any help on the exam, so unless I neeeded to miss class for a midwife appointment, the topic just never came up. Whenever it did, they were all very congratulatory.) All my classmates continue to be interested, supportive, and very complimentary of my maternity wardrobe :)

The next few weeks are going to be insanely busy. I really need to start emphasizing the second half of "pregnant law student." There is only one more week of class and then I have three exams in a row starting May 22. Immediately after my exam on Thursday we will start the 1000 mile drive down to Houston for my baby brother's high school graduation. We'll go to Austin on Sunday to move me in to JP's old swim teammate's house and then JP will fly back to Chicago on Monday. The next weekend I have a baby shower in my hometown and he'll be moving us to the new apartment. The timing worked out quite well- I get to eat cake and open presents and he gets to pack, move, and unpack! So to sum it up, in the next two weeks I will be: catching up on all my reading, preparing for exams, packing for a 5-week stay in Texas, packing the apartment for a move, calling to change our utilities and address, soaking up quality time with JP, and saying goodbye to our beautiful "newlywed" apartment. But what did I do yesterday? Went to Target to register for some more baby things, went to another maternity store in search of a khaki skirt, and watched 2 episodes of the not-nearly-as-good-as-project-runway-or-top-chef Bravo Show "Shear Genius". Denial? Perhaps. Reveling in ignoring school and focusing on being pregnant? Aboslutely.